China put nuke missiles along Indian border: Pentagon
Headlines Today Bureau
New Delhi, August 17, 2010
China has deployed its nuclear-capable DongFeng-21 long-range missiles on the border with India, according to a Pentagon report to the US Congress.
The report notes that the Chinese army has replaced the older liquid-fuelled, nuclear-capable CCS-3 intermediate range missiles with the more advanced and accurate CSS-5 or DongFeng-21 missiles to ramp up regional deterrence.
The report confirms earlier reports that China was moving vast numbers of airborne forces to airfields close to the Indian border as part of a short-notice contingency response plan.
But the US has played down the anti-India implications of such a move. The Pentagon report maintains that there has been no anomalous increase in military capabilities along the Sino-Indian border - a point that Indian military planners may strongly contest.
The US maintains that Beijing and New Delhi have managed their border dispute using confidence-building measures and diplomatic mechanisms to ensure relative stability in the border area.
The report does, however, affirm that tension remains between India and China along the 4,057-km border over control of Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin region in Ladakh.
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